Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Small town Tuesday: unexpected birthday guests

This is my weekly installment of Small Town Tuesday. If you have a
small-town story (with pictures is even better! ) please send me a
message at vash_ii@yahoo.com or on Facebook.

We recently had a little party for Brady's 8th birthday. We invited family, his 2nd grade classmates and some other friends outside of his grade.

But we ended up with a few unexpected guests in a way I imagine wouldn't happen often in a larger city.

Birthday party chaos!

We had the party in a building we have up town. We use it for storage, family get-togethers and parties. It's very close to our house, so the day before the party Brady and I were hauling plates, cups, toys, cookies, drinks etc. from our house up to the building.

"What are you guys doing?" came a voice from down Main Street.

There were four girls. I knew one of them. She used to be in Brady's class but had moved to a city 30 miles away. I guess she was in town visiting cousins.

Brady knew most of them and some still went to his school. They ranged in age from 8 up to early teens. They all looked similar, hence my idea they're sisters and cousins.

They hung out there the whole time we went back and forth, back and forth, carrying supplies.

At the end, one of the girls said, "Can we come to the party?"

I couldn't see any reason why not, so I said, "Sure." I thought they might forget or their parents would say no, but even if they did come, we had plenty to share.

To my surprise, all four girls showed up to the party. I have no idea if their parents knew they came. They ate food and drank pop and played with all the other kids and just in general had a great time.

It worried me a little that they were unsupervised, but we all kept an eye on them. They were the last to leave.

It made for a fun party and Brady was quite happy to have them there. Another unusual little slice of life in our tiny town.

I know, it's a bit odd not to have the parents involved but I guess because the oldest was teenager-ish they figured she'd watch over the group. There's truly not a whole lot of trouble they could get into in our little town. It was a new one for me for sure!

Could see this happening in our town too.In fact, hubby and I had date night recently and ran into another couple we had not seen in awhile due to shift work schedules. So, we ended up in a double date! It was so much fun.

Oh how fun! We have done that too. We went up to the bar/restaurant one night and couple friends of ours were there on their 25th anniversary and we all ended up having dinner together! And the sneaky guys bought our dinner before we could get theirs! Small towns rock!

Sounds like a fun time, how great to have the extra space for a party :) Glad the girls came to the party, Surprise guests can be fun. Small town life is different than where I live, more trusting and carefree... we all need a touch of small town in our lives!

That's sweet! I think kids might invite themselves to things like this regardless of where you live. I just don't think the parents are always open to saying yes. I've had kids at parties when my kids didn't even know who they were (at first). We just go with the flow.

You know, with kids it's easy to do that. Kids are usually all so open and willing to make new friends. There are times when a situation comes up and I know my kid is watching to see what I do. I'd rather err on the side of caution and be kind :)

Cute story. I can understand your surprise in not seeing them supervised in both instances. I have seen younger kids on their own at malls and other public places that I was surprised that I had not seen adults nearby. Glad it all turned out well for everyone!

In a big city it would have worried me. I have seen some awful terrible things in big cities, neglect, what appeared like child abuse on the lawn, I almost called the cops, still wonder if I should have. There are things like that here of course, but everybody knows everybody and knows just exactly what the back story is. And Brady knew the kids so that helped. Heck, that kid knows EVERYBODY!

Follow by Email

Pinterest

I'm a Christian, mom to a spirited 8-year-old boy & work for our family business in Kansas. I've lived in a city of 1 million and now a town of less than 1,000. From the Burbs to the Boonies is about life in small-town USA, frugal living, healthy cooking, encouragement parenting, co-schooling or supplementing public school education, modern day hunting and gathering, living by faith and getting families outdoors.